User:5faizan/Zakir Naik

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (Arabic: زاكر نايك) (born: October 18, 1965) is an Indian Islamic scholar, public speaker, and writer on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. By profession, he is a medical doctor, attaining a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from Maharashtra, but since 1991 he has focused on preaching Islam.

Zakir Naik is also the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organization that owns Peace TV network.

Biography
Zakir Naik was born on October 18, 1965 in Mumbai, India. He is of Konkani descent. His first educational institution was St. Peter's High School (ICSE) situated in Mumbai. After which he joined Kishinchand Chellaram College in the same city. After his higher secondary degree he studied medicine at Topiwala National Medical College and at Nair Hospital in Mumbai. He completed his MBBS degree from University of Mumbai. In 1991 he gave up his activity as a physician and started working for Dawah or preaching of Islam.

According to Naik, the goal is to "concentrate on the educated Muslim youth who have become apologetic about their own religion and have started to feel that their own religion is outdated."

Lectures
Thomas Blom Hansen, a sociologist at the University of Edinburgh, has written that Naik's style of memorizing the Qur'an and hadith literature in various languages, and travelling abroad to debate Islam with theologians, has made him extremely popular in Mumbai. Although he usually speaks to audiences of several hundreds, it is the videotapes of his talks which are widely distributed. His talks are usually recorded in English, to be broadcast at weekends on several cable networks in Mumbai's Muslim neighborhoods, and on the channel Peace TV, which he copromotes. Topics he speaks on include: "Islam and Modern Science", "Islam and Christianity", and "Islam and secularism", among others. He is the president of the Islamic Research Foundation, which he founded.

Critics
Political Analyst Khaled Ahmed considers that Zakir Naik, by his criticism of other religions, and by his claims of Islam's superiority over other religious faiths, practices what he calls "reverse Orientalism" when discussing comparative religion.

In 2004 he visited New Zealand and then Australian capitals at the invitation of Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia. In his conference in Melbourne, according to journalist Sushi Das, "Naik extolled the moral and spiritual superiority of Islam and lampooned other faiths and the West in general. His words fostered a spirit of separateness and reinforced prejudice, but many in the audience laughed and clapped."

In August 2006, Naik's visit and conference in Cardiff (UK) were the object of controversy. Welsh MP David Davies called for his appearance to be cancelled and described him as a 'hate-monger' - a description rejected by Cardiff's Muslims. According to the South Wales Echo, "Mr Davies said Dr Naik's views, which have included calling for the execution of Muslims who reject their faith and calling all Americans 'pigs', did not deserve a public platform."Row over Islamic preacherNaik's conference went ahead, with Cardiff council stating it was satisfied that he would not be preaching extremist views.